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SLO Rugby defeated the Old Aztecs of San Diego 28-21 in the Southern California Rugby Union Division III Territorial Championship in Santa Barbara on Saturday.

The fledgling team won the right to travel to Newport News, Virginia for the USA Rugby Division III Championships May 10 and 11.

SLO burst out to a 14-0 lead courtesy of a brace of tries to center Paul Cappellano. The first score came in the game’s first five minutes. Coach Lief McKay, playing fly-half, lofted a perfect kick behind the Aztec backline. The ball bounced over several hands before Cappellano plucked it out of the grasp of a hapless defender and dove into the end zone.

Cappellano’s second try came on the back of an incredible, powerhouse charge by game MVP AJ Smith, whose 40 metre burst left a trail of destruction through the Aztec defense. A simple offload to the ubiquitous Cappellano, and the scoreboard read 14-0.

San Diego, however, scored a try on each side of the half-time break to knot the score at 14-14. San Luis Obispo didn’t help their own cause by letting down their guard on both occasions and offering the flimsiest resistance of the game. The SLO supporters were growing anxious as the Aztec pack seemed to be lifting a gear and wearing the fast-starting SLO fifteen down. SLO received a reprieve of sorts when the Aztec hooker was sin-binned for reckless stomping, and were able to capitalize with an impressive try to Kiwi centre Sean Leamy.

The turning point of the game came in the 60th minute, when number 8 Andy Adams made a high tackle an Aztec lock, and a melee ensued. Adams was sin-binned for 10 minutes for the dangerous tackle, but San Diego was hit harder, as their blind-side flanker was given his marching orders after he threw a flurry of punches at numerous SLO players in retaliation.

With both teams down to 14 men, Old Aztecs again drew level after an elusive dart through the mid-field defense by their fly-half.

Adams was reintroduced into the fray, and together with Smith and rookie flanker Ian Yungman, he lead the SLO pack as they reasserted themselves in the dying minutes. Play drove deep into the Aztec half, and the mounting forward pressure resulted in one final, fatal Aztec handling error. A scrum-win saw the ball in McKay’s hands, who linked with Leamy to touch down for the championship score.

It was a fitting end to an incredible season by the SLO team, as they regrouped from several humiliating pre-season defeats, and turned around to march to the Championship undefeated in league play.

San Luis Obispo 28 (P Cappellano 2 tries; S Leamy 2 tries; L McKay 3 conversions) defeated Old Aztecs 21

San Luis Obispo:
T Reese; P Sherlock; M Whippy; S Leamy; P Cappellano; L McKay; S Bolduan; A Adams; I Yungman; P Poist; G Watson; C Marlo; K Mealia; T Salman; A Smith; N Wolf; C Edwards; M Giudici; G Douglass

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